=~

MatchâIf obj is a Regexp, use it as a pattern to match against str,and returns the position the match starts, or nil if there is no match. Otherwise, invokes obj.=~, passing str as an argument. The default =~ in Object returns nil.

Note: str =~ regexp is not the same as regexp =~ str. Strings captured from named capture groups are assigned to local variables only in the second case.

"cat o' 9 tails" =~ /\d/   #=> 7
"cat o' 9 tails" =~ 9      #=> nil